When attending an out-of-state law school, the stress of job searching can make you wish you had the ability to click your heels three times to return home like Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz.” As a recent law school graduate and licensed North Carolina attorney, I can say that there are options and ways to ease the stress of job searching from an out state law school. After leaving North Carolina to attend law school in Virginia, I knew that I would need to be intentional with my job search if I wanted to return to North Carolina.

Job Search Options at an Out-of-State Law School

There are four major sources that can be utilized to help ease the stress of job searching from out of state.

Career Services Offices. OK, you got me. This is the easy answer. Yet, I was surprised at how many of my fellow classmates failed to utilize the Career Services office. I had several students tell me that they never set foot in the Career Services Office other than for required events. Do not waste a convenient valuable resource that is included in the price of tuition. Become familiar with your Career Services office and utilize their job bank. I applied to a large number of North Carolina state court clerkships through my Career Services office. Additionally, I found a large number of jobs posted by small firms looking for new attorneys in North Carolina. On a related note, most Careers Services offices have reciprocity agreements with other Career Services offices around the country. If you are not sure that your Career Services office has a reciprocity agreement with a law school in your home state, go ask. You can only improve your chances of getting a job by asking.

https://ncbarblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/3adobestock_67374951-handshake.jpg5001140NCBARBLOGhttps://ncbarblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngNCBARBLOG2016-06-30 14:35:002016-06-30 14:35:00There's No Place Like Home: Job Searching From an Out-Of-State Law School

Law school is a strange creature. You spend three long years sacrificing your sleep, your credit rating, your relationships, and your sanity. In return, you get the opportunity to take the bar exam and start a career where you get to challenge yourself every day, help countless people, and maybe even make a little money along the way. As you’ve (hopefully) learned, law school is all about filling your brain with points of law and forcing you to think your way around the gray areas. For all the substantive information you pick up during your time as a law student, however, there are some important things that get left along the wayside. As a recently licensed lawyer in North Carolina, I appreciate the opportunity to fill you in on a few things I didn’t learn until I made it out into the “real world.”

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Road Warriors is back and is celebrating its 15th anniversary with the new 24th edition. The column, a long-standing feature in the Workers’ Compensation Section newsletter, Course & Scope, focuses on lunch eateries around the state. This special anniversary and celebration of Road Warriors revving up its engines again is devoted to my all-time favorite, Ben Thanh Vietnamese Restaurant. All the tips and comments from our membership have made Road Warriors possible. Please email me at js-walker@mindspring.com with your favorite lunch stops and they may appear in following editions. If you take a moment to write a review, we’ll put it in the next edition if possible.

Ben Thanh Vietnamese Restaurant

1806 Windsor Square Drive

Matthews, NC 28105

(704) 566-1088

http://www.benthanhcharlottenc.com/

Ben Thanh has been a perennial favorite Asian restaurant in the Charlotte area for many years. And no wonder. The very best of Charlotte’s Vietnamese presence is on display at my all-time favorite restaurant. It’s like a journey through time to another era and to an exotic, mysterious tropical destination.

Ben Thanh’s family owned restaurant has its roots in the former Saigon of then South Vietnam. The culture and food are vastly different from the North, being a tropical region in the Mekong River Delta. The popularity of the flavorful, healthy food from this region has spread wildly around the world, with the beef and rice noodle soup phó having legions of followers.

Phó is seductively simple: rice noodles in an herbal/spiced broth, topped with various cuts of beef in different stages of doneness. When served, the patron garnishes the bowl with Thai basil, lettuce, bean sprouts and cilantro. Hot peppers are optional. Careful here, especially with the little red, nuclear tipped Thai chilies. Try Ben Thanh menu item No. 24 to have phó.

Having binge-watched Making a Murderer during January’s epic snow, my law-partner husband and I attended the DPAC presentation: “Dean Strang and Jerry Buting: A Conversation on Justice.” Dean is a UVA Law graduate, as is my husband. Jerry is a UNC Law graduate, as am I. My husband taught Jerry contracts and UCC. On that cold January day, we felt an affinity for both. When the NCBA arranged a member event outing including a pre-presentation meeting with Dean and Jerry, pictured above, we said “Count us in!”

As the world now knows, Dean and Jerry defended Steven Avery against murder charges in the tragic death of Teresa Halbach in Manitowoc County, Wis. The Netflix documentary about the case is an internet sensation. The public conversation about the separate convictions of Steven Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey includes the topics of wrongful conviction, police misconduct and prosecutorial misconduct. The documentary generated so much interest that a petition to pardon Steven Avery addressed to President Barack Obama (who has no authority in this state case) garnered more than half a million signatures.

During our private meeting with Dean and Jerry and the public presentation, lots of questions were asked about the case. One of interest to me was how two defense attorneys ended up in a documentary filmed during a murder trial. The answer: Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos began their work with the Avery family before either Dean or Jerry were engaged as counsel. The film crew was a reality when their representation began. They did not choose it. They had trepidation about it. Both now believe that it has cast light where light must be cast.

If you had to draw a picture of an attorney, what would it look like? How would your drawing of a male attorney compare to one of a female attorney?

I love emoji. I admit it. And while they are fun, some academics are contemplating whether emoji may develop into a new language altogether and change our written communication to look less like a novel and more like a comic book. While it’s easy to express happiness with 🙂 and sadness with 🙁 , how do you express a more complex idea or concept like a profession? These are the new concepts we are all facing, and regardless of who we blame for the rise of emoji (cough cough *Millennials* cough cough), we need to start getting used to the idea that words+graphic=communication.

Law school is a strange creature. You spend three long years sacrificing your sleep, your credit rating, your relationships, and your sanity. In return, you get the opportunity to take the bar exam and start a career where you get to challenge yourself every day, help countless people, and maybe even make a little money along the way. As you’ve (hopefully) learned, law school is all about filling your brain with points of law and forcing you to think your way around the gray areas. For all the substantive information you pick up during your time as a law student, however, there are some important things that get left along the wayside. As a recently licensed lawyer in North Carolina, I appreciate the opportunity to fill you in on a few things I didn’t learn until I made it out into the “real world.”

https://ncbarblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00NCBARBLOGhttps://ncbarblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngNCBARBLOG2016-06-02 12:50:582016-06-02 12:50:58Extra Credit: Five Things I Wish I'd Learned In Law School

Everyone should do pro bono work during law school. While I could discuss at great length the merits of helping others, the focus of this article is how pro bono helps law students themselves. Pro bono opportunities strengthen students in the classroom and eventually in a career. Practical skills, networking experience, and a broader perspective are three things that students gain from pro bono work.

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When attending an out-of-state law school, the stress of job searching can make you wish you had the ability to click your heels three times to return home like Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz.” As a recent law school graduate and licensed North Carolina attorney, I can say that there are options and ways to ease the stress of job searching from an out state law school. After leaving North Carolina to attend law school in Virginia, I knew that I would need to be intentional with my job search if I wanted to return to North Carolina.

https://ncbarblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00NCBARBLOGhttps://ncbarblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngNCBARBLOG2016-06-02 12:20:392016-06-02 12:20:39There’s No Place Like Home: Job Searching from an Out-of-State Law School

Matthew D. Quinn is a 2009 graduate of the Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law at Campbell University. He practices with the Law Offices of F. Bryan Brice Jr. in Raleigh.

Q: What kind of law do you practice?

A: I have a general civil litigation practice. I typically, but not always, represent the plaintiff. Over the years, I have developed a niche practice of representing individuals and families injured by mold contamination. In fact, I have found that the best way to build a practice is to find a discreet type of case and build up experience in that area. There are not many mold litigators, so I receive a lot of those cases.

Q: What do you like best about your practice?

A: The diversity of duties. I might spend one day reading, writing, and researching. The next day I could spend in the field at a property inspection, or perhaps learning about a scientific issue at an expert’s office. Then twenty-four hours later, I could be at a court hearing. There is never a dull moment in civil litigation.

A: I enjoy practicing family law because it allows me to work with individuals. Family law requires a great deal of client contact—in person, over email, and/or over the phone. It’s a practice area where you interact with clients every working day. Also, every family law case is unique and challenging in its own way. As members of a “learned profession” we are challenged to consistently study and expand our knowledge of complex and evolving issue—it keeps my day to day job very interesting and rewarding.

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